Panthers take advantage of extra practice time, hold second scrimmage. The highlights
With their first two games postponed, the Florida Panthers have three extra practice sessions to work with before their season begins on Sunday against the Chicago Blackhawks.
They’re taking advantage. The Panthers holding their second full intrasquad scrimmage of training camp Tuesday.
The game was tied 2-2 at the end of the three 20-minute periods before Radko Gudas, Riley Stillman and Frank Vatrano scored goals against goaltender Phillippe Desrosiers in the five-minute, three-on-three overtime period.
“Really liked the pace of the scrimmage,” Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. “I thought we did a lot of things right technically. ... We did a lot of good things. We tried to reinforce good habits and I thought we saw a lot of that demonstrated.”
Some notables from Tuesday’s scrimmage:
Goalies improved
Sergei Bobrovsky is still deemed “unfit to play,” the NHL’s catch-all term in the age of COVID-19 for players who aren’t available for practice or games, so Sam Montembeault and Chris Dreidger received all the ice time in net during regulation. Both gave up just two goals.
Montembeault’s came on a Stillman penalty shot and Frank Vatrano wrist shot on the doorstep of the goal, while Noel Acciari scored on a tip-in and Anthony Duclair flipped in his own rebound against Dreidger.
It was another strong day for Montembeault, who only gave up one goal in the first scrimmage on Thursday. It was a bounceback for Dreidger, who gave up eight goals the first time out.
“There were a lot of quality chances against them,” Quenneville said, “but the guys were moving.”
As for Bobrovsky, who has not been on the ice with the team since camp started? Quenneville’s comments makes it seem pretty clear he won’t be ready to go by Sunday’s season opener.
“Hopefully it’s not long,” Quenneville said of Bobrovsky’s absence. “We’ll see how many games it is.”
Forward lines aren’t necessarily set
The forward lines in Tuesday’s scrimmage were more or less the same ones that Quennville had used in the three practices since their first scrimmage. The main four lines:
▪ Aleksander Barkov centering Carter Verhaeghe and Duclair.
▪ Alex Wennberg centering Jonathan Huberdeau and Patric Hornqvist.
▪ Eetu Luostarinen centering Vatrano and Owen Tippett.
▪ Noel Acciari centering Vinnie Hinostroza and Brett Connolly.
But Quenneville made it clear: Don’t necessarily read into those lines in full. Specifically, the right wings on the final three lines (Hornqvist, Tippett and Connolly) could easily rotate around.
“Nothing’s etched in stone as far as who’s playing with who yet,” Quenneville said. “... Everybody’s probably gonna probably get a chance to move up or down.”
Ryan Lomberg, Grigori Denisenko and Mason Marchment are the other three forwards competing for roster spots.
Defensive fluidity
While the forward lines were primarily static, Quenneville regularly changed his defensive pairings throughout the scrimmage.
The five defensemen for the red team: Anton Stralman, Riley Stillman, Keith Yandle, Gustav Forsling and Radko Gudas.
The five on the blue team: Aaron Ekblad, MacKenzie Weegar, Chase Priskie, Brady Keeper and Kevin Connauton.
Stillman, in addition to his two goals, made a few noticeable plays on defense, including a backcheck in the second period that stopped a Connolly breakaway.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 12:20 PM.
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